Keeping Faith & Breaking Ground: Recent Episodes
The Cornerstone Forum
Reflections on Homer's Iliad - The heroic dilemma - James Joyce called the whole structure of heroism a damned lie. Mr. Bailie in this series of presentations from 1988 explores the archetypal aspects of Homer's heroes and begins to assess the implications of René Girard's mimetic hypothesis of culture founding violence.
Reflections on Homer's Iliad - The heroic dilemma - James Joyce called the whole structure of heroism a damned lie. Mr. Bailie in this series of presentations from 1988 explores the archetypal aspects of Homer's heroes and begins to assess the implications of René Girard's mimetic hypothesis of culture founding violence.
Reflections on Homer's Iliad - The heroic dilemma - James Joyce called the whole structure of heroism a damned lie. Mr. Bailie in this series of presentations from 1988 explores the archetypal aspects of Homer's heroes and begins to assess the implications of René Girard's mimetic hypothesis of culture founding violence.
An excerpt from the audiobook version of Gil Bailie's 2016 Angelico Press book, God's Gamble - the gravitational power of crucified love.(The audiobook will be available on Audible in late 2022)
Gil Bailie examines Herman Melville’s last novel as a case study of how the Christian Gospel is gradually undermining the legitimacy of the scapegoating mechanisms upon which cultures depend. The race between the message of the Gospel and the effects of the Gospel has begun. Will it lead to repentance or apocalypse?
Gil Bailie examines Herman Melville’s last novel as a case study of how the Christian Gospel is gradually undermining the legitimacy of the scapegoating mechanisms upon which cultures depend. The race between the message of the Gospel and the effects of the Gospel has begun. Will it lead to repentance or apocalypse?
Gil Bailie examines Herman Melville’s last novel as a case study of how the Christian Gospel is gradually undermining the legitimacy of the scapegoating mechanisms upon which cultures depend. The race between the message of the Gospel and the effects of the Gospel has begun. Will it lead to repentance or apocalypse?
Gil Bailie examines Herman Melville’s last novel as a case study of how the Christian Gospel is gradually undermining the legitimacy of the scapegoating mechanisms upon which cultures depend. The race between the message of the Gospel and the effects of the Gospel has begun. Will it lead to repentance or apocalypse?
Is there a main theme, a discernable underlying story, perhaps a real story that informs the myriad biblical narratives? Gil Bailie believes there is and leads the listener on a voyage of discovery into the biblical texts.
This eight part series explores the biblical themes of creation, fall, and sacrifice as depicted in various stories related in the biblical texts using the interpretive tools made available in René Girard's mimetic theory.
Is there a main theme, a discernable underlying story, perhaps a real story that informs the myriad biblical narratives? Gil Bailie believes there is and leads the listener on a voyage of discovery into the biblical texts.
This eight part series explores the biblical themes of creation, fall, and sacrifice as depicted in various stories related in the biblical texts using the interpretive tools made available in René Girard's mimetic theory.
Is there a main theme, a discernable underlying story, perhaps a real story that informs the myriad biblical narratives? Gil Bailie believes there is and leads the listener on a voyage of discovery into the biblical texts.
This eight part series explores the biblical themes of creation, fall, and sacrifice as depicted in various stories related in the biblical texts using the interpretive tools made available in René Girard's mimetic theory.
Is there a main theme, a discernable underlying story, perhaps a real story that informs the myriad biblical narratives? Gil Bailie believes there is and leads the listener on a voyage of discovery into the biblical texts.
This eight part series explores the biblical themes of creation, fall, and sacrifice as depicted in various stories related in the biblical texts using the interpretive tools made available in René Girard's mimetic theory.
Is there a main theme, a discernable underlying story, perhaps a real story that informs the myriad biblical narratives? Gil Bailie believes there is and leads the listener on a voyage of discovery into the biblical texts.
This eight part series explores the biblical themes of creation, fall, and sacrifice as depicted in various stories related in the biblical texts using the interpretive tools made available in René Girard's mimetic theory.
Is there a main theme, a discernable underlying story, perhaps a real story that informs the myriad biblical narratives? Gil Bailie believes there is and leads the listener on a voyage of discovery into the biblical texts.
This eight part series explores the biblical themes of creation, fall, and sacrifice as depicted in various stories related in the biblical texts using the interpretive tools made available in René Girard's mimetic theory.
Is there a main theme, a discernable underlying story, perhaps a real story that informs the myriad biblical narratives? Gil Bailie believes there is and leads the listener on a voyage of discovery into the biblical texts.
This eight part series explores the biblical themes of creation, fall, and sacrifice as depicted in various stories related in the biblical texts using the interpretive tools made available in René Girard's mimetic theory.
Is there a main theme, a discernable underlying story, perhaps a real story that informs the myriad biblical narratives? Gil Bailie believes there is and leads the listener on a voyage of discovery into the biblical texts.
This eight part series explores the biblical themes of creation, fall, and sacrifice as depicted in various stories related in the biblical texts using the interpretive tools made available in René Girard's mimetic theory.
Reflections on Homer's Iliad - The heroic dilemma - James Joyce called the whole structure of heroism a damned lie. Mr. Bailie in this series of presentations from 1988 explores the archetypal aspects of Homer's heroes and begins to assess the implications of René Girard's mimetic hypothesis of culture founding violence.
Reflections on Homer's Iliad - The heroic dilemma - James Joyce called the whole structure of heroism a damned lie. Mr. Bailie in this series of presentations from 1988 explores the archetypal aspects of Homer's heroes and begins to assess the implications of René Girard's mimetic hypothesis of culture founding violence.
Reflections on Homer's Iliad - The heroic dilemma - James Joyce called the whole structure of heroism a damned lie. Mr. Bailie in this series of presentations from 1988 explores the archetypal aspects of Homer's heroes and begins to assess the implications of René Girard's mimetic hypothesis of culture founding violence.
Reflections on Homer's Iliad - The heroic dilemma - James Joyce called the whole structure of heroism a damned lie. Mr. Bailie in this series of presentations from 1988 explores the archetypal aspects of Homer's heroes and begins to assess the implications of René Girard's mimetic hypothesis of culture founding violence.
Reflections on Homer's Iliad - The heroic dilemma - James Joyce called the whole structure of heroism a damned lie. Mr. Bailie in this series of presentations from 1988 explores the archetypal aspects of Homer's heroes and begins to assess the implications of René Girard's mimetic hypothesis of culture founding violence.
Reflections on Sophocles' Antigone, a three part series recorded in the late 1980's. In this first part of the series Gil Bailie shows how Sophocles expands the horizon of the play from what appears to be a conflict between duty to the state and duty to god to include the vast scope of human endeavor whose only limit is our mortality. Sophocles is asking his 5th century BCE audience what it means to be human.
Reflections on Sophocles' Antigone, a three part series recorded in the late 1980's. In this first part of the series Gil Bailie shows how Sophocles expands the horizon of the play from what appears to be a conflict between duty to the state and duty to god to include the vast scope of human endeavor whose only limit is our mortality. Sophocles is asking his 5th century BCE audience what it means to be human.
Reflections on Sophocles' Antigone, a three part series recorded in the late 1980's. In this first part of the series Gil Bailie shows how Sophocles expands the horizon of the play from what appears to be a conflict between duty to the state and duty to god to include the vast scope of human endeavor whose only limit is our mortality. Sophocles is asking his 5th century BCE audience what it means to be human.
In the 1930’s W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood visited China under the auspices of their British publishers to report on the Sino-Japanese war. Auden returned with writings called the ‘War Sonnets’ or ‘Sonnets from China’. Gil Bailie explores some of these as well as other poems from Auden’s wide repertoire.
In the 1930’s W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood visited China under the auspices of their British publishers to report on the Sino-Japanese war. Auden returned with writings called the ‘War Sonnets’ or ‘Sonnets from China’. Gil Bailie explores some of these as well as other poems from Auden’s wide repertoire.
Gil Bailie’s 1994 series entitled the Dionysian Revival examines the 5th century BC Greek drama The Bacchae by Euripides as well as the 20th century novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It is interesting to note that The Bacchae reflects aspects of the historical reality of Athens in the period it was performed. In the decades prior to the drama’s premier in Athens, the city had been ravaged by both war and pandemic causing great social upheavals and was accompanied by a revival of primitive ecstatic Dionysian religious rites. Euripides’ play exposes the powerful forces behind the seemingly benign god of wine, ecstasy and drama. The same forces that Fredrich Nietzsche and Richard Wagner celebrated in their respective works over two millennia later and have been ascendant in the West ever since. As an example of these influences the movie Cabaret, based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, is profiled.
In Lord of the Flies William Golding imaginatively explores how a group of British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island with no adults during a time of war might organize themselves. Golding’s anthropological assumptions, without any influence from René Girard, show the power of sacrifice and the sacred in the incipient society around which the boys coalesce.
Gil Bailie’s 1994 series entitled the Dionysian Revival examines the 5th century BC Greek drama The Bacchae by Euripides as well as the 20th century novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It is interesting to note that The Bacchae reflects aspects of the historical reality of Athens in the period it was performed. In the decades prior to the drama’s premier in Athens, the city had been ravaged by both war and pandemic causing great social upheavals and was accompanied by a revival of primitive ecstatic Dionysian religious rites. Euripides’ play exposes the powerful forces behind the seemingly benign god of wine, ecstasy and drama. The same forces that Fredrich Nietzsche and Richard Wagner celebrated in their respective works over two millennia later and have been ascendant in the West ever since. As an example of these influences the movie Cabaret, based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, is profiled.
In Lord of the Flies William Golding imaginatively explores how a group of British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island with no adults during a time of war might organize themselves. Golding’s anthropological assumptions, without any influence from René Girard, show the power of sacrifice and the sacred in the incipient society around which the boys coalesce.
Gil Bailie’s 1994 series entitled the Dionysian Revival examines the 5th century BC Greek drama The Bacchae by Euripides as well as the 20th century novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It is interesting to note that The Bacchae reflects aspects of the historical reality of Athens in the period it was performed. In the decades prior to the drama’s premier in Athens, the city had been ravaged by both war and pandemic causing great social upheavals and was accompanied by a revival of primitive ecstatic Dionysian religious rites. Euripides’ play exposes the powerful forces behind the seemingly benign god of wine, ecstasy and drama. The same forces that Fredrich Nietzsche and Richard Wagner celebrated in their respective works over two millennia later and have been ascendant in the West ever since. As an example of these influences the movie Cabaret, based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, is profiled.
In Lord of the Flies William Golding imaginatively explores how a group of British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island with no adults during a time of war might organize themselves. Golding’s anthropological assumptions, without any influence from René Girard, show the power of sacrifice and the sacred in the incipient society around which the boys coalesce.
Gil Bailie’s 1994 series entitled the Dionysian Revival examines the 5th century BC Greek drama The Bacchae by Euripides as well as the 20th century novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It is interesting to note that The Bacchae reflects aspects of the historical reality of Athens in the period it was performed. In the decades prior to the drama’s premier in Athens, the city had been ravaged by both war and pandemic causing great social upheavals and was accompanied by a revival of primitive ecstatic Dionysian religious rites. Euripides’ play exposes the powerful forces behind the seemingly benign god of wine, ecstasy and drama. The same forces that Fredrich Nietzsche and Richard Wagner celebrated in their respective works over two millennia later and have been ascendant in the West ever since. As an example of these influences the movie Cabaret, based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, is profiled.
In Lord of the Flies William Golding imaginatively explores how a group of British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island with no adults during a time of war might organize themselves. Golding’s anthropological assumptions, without any influence from René Girard, show the power of sacrifice and the sacred in the incipient society around which the boys coalesce.
Gil Bailie’s 1994 series entitled the Dionysian Revival examines the 5th century BC Greek drama The Bacchae by Euripides as well as the 20th century novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It is interesting to note that The Bacchae reflects aspects of the historical reality of Athens in the period it was performed. In the decades prior to the drama’s premier in Athens, the city had been ravaged by both war and pandemic causing great social upheavals and was accompanied by a revival of primitive ecstatic Dionysian religious rites. Euripides’ play exposes the powerful forces behind the seemingly benign god of wine, ecstasy and drama. The same forces that Fredrich Nietzsche and Richard Wagner celebrated in their respective works over two millennia later and have been ascendant in the West ever since. As an example of these influences the movie Cabaret, based on Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, is profiled.
In Lord of the Flies William Golding imaginatively explores how a group of British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island with no adults during a time of war might organize themselves. Golding’s anthropological assumptions, without any influence from René Girard, show the power of sacrifice and the sacred in the incipient society around which the boys coalesce.
In Murder in the Cathedral T.S. Eliot is exploring the role of the church in modern society. In these reflections, Gil Bailie asks the question, “What is the church for?”
As a social institution acting in history the church is fallible and bears the same limitations as all social phenomena. It has served worldly interests, has soiled its hands, has passed off the temporal for the eternal. In this sense one may await and demand from the historic church repentance, the recognition of its sins and of its partial betrayal of Christ. – Nicolai Berdyaev
Knowing that the church is a far cry from what it ought to be, is itself a far cry from knowing what it ought to be.
In Murder in the Cathedral T.S. Eliot is exploring the role of the church in modern society. In these reflections, Gil Bailie asks the question, “What is the church for?”
As a social institution acting in history the church is fallible and bears the same limitations as all social phenomena. It has served worldly interests, has soiled its hands, has passed off the temporal for the eternal. In this sense one may await and demand from the historic church repentance, the recognition of its sins and of its partial betrayal of Christ. – Nicolai Berdyaev
Knowing that the church is a far cry from what it ought to be, is itself a far cry from knowing what it ought to be.
In Murder in the Cathedral T.S. Eliot is exploring the role of the church in modern society. In these reflections, Gil Bailie asks the question, “What is the church for?”
As a social institution acting in history the church is fallible and bears the same limitations as all social phenomena. It has served worldly interests, has soiled its hands, has passed off the temporal for the eternal. In this sense one may await and demand from the historic church repentance, the recognition of its sins and of its partial betrayal of Christ. – Nicolai Berdyaev
Knowing that the church is a far cry from what it ought to be, is itself a far cry from knowing what it ought to be.
In Murder in the Cathedral T.S. Eliot is exploring the role of the church in modern society. In these reflections, Gil Bailie asks the question, “What is the church for?”
As a social institution acting in history the church is fallible and bears the same limitations as all social phenomena. It has served worldly interests, has soiled its hands, has passed off the temporal for the eternal. In this sense one may await and demand from the historic church repentance, the recognition of its sins and of its partial betrayal of Christ. – Nicolai Berdyaev
Knowing that the church is a far cry from what it ought to be, is itself a far cry from knowing what it ought to be.
In Murder in the Cathedral T.S. Eliot is exploring the role of the church in modern society. In these reflections, Gil Bailie asks the question, “What is the church for?”
As a social institution acting in history the church is fallible and bears the same limitations as all social phenomena. It has served worldly interests, has soiled its hands, has passed off the temporal for the eternal. In this sense one may await and demand from the historic church repentance, the recognition of its sins and of its partial betrayal of Christ. – Nicolai Berdyaev
Knowing that the church is a far cry from what it ought to be, is itself a far cry from knowing what it ought to be.
When love begins to sicken and decay, It useth an enforced ceremony. There are no tricks in plain and simple faith; But hollow men, like horses hot at hand, Make gallant show and promise of their mettle; But when they should endure the bloody spur, They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades, Sink in the trial. – Julius Caesar Act IV scene ii
Eliot in his earlier poetry had described a world where love had begun to ‘sicken and decay’. In the Hollow Men he is trying to re-appropriate the ritual dimension of life and to wrestle with the proposition that such a re-appropriation is no longer possible or perhaps even legitimate. Eliot seems to have arrived at an impasse in his life which was both poetic in terms of his literary career, and religious in terms of his spiritual development.
This 3 part series explores Eliot’s poetic works produced after The Hollow Men and before The Four Quartets. Bailie suggests that Ash Wednesday is The Waste Land “contextualized” – a Lenten journey through the desert leading to the Promised Land reflecting Eliot’s own journey into an affirmed Christian faith.
This 3 part series explores Eliot’s poetic works produced after The Hollow Men and before The Four Quartets. Bailie suggests that Ash Wednesday is The Waste Land “contextualized” – a Lenten journey through the desert leading to the Promised Land reflecting Eliot’s own journey into an affirmed Christian faith.
This 3 part series explores Eliot’s poetic works produced after The Hollow Men and before The Four Quartets. Bailie suggests that Ash Wednesday is The Waste Land “contextualized” – a Lenten journey through the desert leading to the Promised Land reflecting Eliot’s own journey into an affirmed Christian faith.
“To readers who want not amusement or magic, but poetry, and who want to know what poetry can be, if it is to be neither of these things, The Waste Land supplies an answer. And by reflecting on it we can perhaps detect one more characteristic which art must have, if it is to forgo both entertainment value and magical value, and draw a subject matter from its audience themselves. It must be prophetic. An artist must prophesy not in the sense that he foretells things to come, but in the sense that he tells his audience, at risk of their displeasure, the secrets of their own hearts.”
R. G. Collingwood
"And who will parse the broken measure of The Waste Land, our world-weary masterpiece In which the very metric tells the tale? Who will devise the necessary scale To read this rhyme as Milton's has been read?"
"Essay on Rime" by Karl Shapiro
In this series on TS Eliot’s Early poetry Gil Bailie explores The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Cousin Nancy, Aunt Helen, Sweeney Among the Nightingales, and Gerontion.
In this series on TS Eliot’s Early poetry Gil Bailie explores The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Cousin Nancy, Aunt Helen, Sweeney Among the Nightingales, and Gerontion.
In this series on TS Eliot’s Early poetry Gil Bailie explores The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Cousin Nancy, Aunt Helen, Sweeney Among the Nightingales, and Gerontion.
Troilus & Cressida reveals William Shakespeare in a dark mood. Written shortly after his play Julius Caesar, it reveals another episode of a culture under stress – this time by way of Homer’s epic story of the war between the Greeks and Trojans. Using the insights of René Girard’s mimetic theory, Gil Bailie brings the inner dynamics of Shakespeare’s play to life.
Troilus & Cressida reveals William Shakespeare in a dark mood. Written shortly after his play Julius Caesar, it reveals another episode of a culture under stress – this time by way of Homer’s epic story of the war between the Greeks and Trojans. Using the insights of René Girard’s mimetic theory, Gil Bailie brings the inner dynamics of Shakespeare’s play to life.
Troilus & Cressida reveals William Shakespeare in a dark mood. Written shortly after his play Julius Caesar, it reveals another episode of a culture under stress – this time by way of Homer’s epic story of the war between the Greeks and Trojans. Using the insights of René Girard’s mimetic theory, Gil Bailie brings the inner dynamics of Shakespeare’s play to life.
Troilus & Cressida reveals William Shakespeare in a dark mood. Written shortly after his play Julius Caesar, it reveals another episode of a culture under stress – this time by way of Homer’s epic story of the war between the Greeks and Trojans. Using the insights of René Girard’s mimetic theory, Gil Bailie brings the inner dynamics of Shakespeare’s play to life.
Troilus & Cressida reveals William Shakespeare in a dark mood. Written shortly after his play Julius Caesar, it reveals another episode of a culture under stress – this time by way of Homer’s epic story of the war between the Greeks and Trojans. Using the insights of René Girard’s mimetic theory, Gil Bailie brings the inner dynamics of Shakespeare’s play to life.
In 1940 when Europe was being ravaged by war a 33 year old W. H. Auden penned his ‘New Year Letter’ to a friend. In 1990 Gil Bailie spent some time reflecting on this long poem full of erudite references to historical, literary, political and religious subjects.
“We are, I know not how, double in ourselves, so that what we believe we disbelieve and cannot rid ourselves of what we condemn.” – Montainge
In 1940 when Europe was being ravaged by war a 33 year old W. H. Auden penned his ‘New Year Letter’ to a friend. In 1990 Gil Bailie spent some time reflecting on this long poem full of erudite references to historical, literary, political and religious subjects.
“We are, I know not how, double in ourselves, so that what we believe we disbelieve and cannot rid ourselves of what we condemn.” – Montainge
In 1940 when Europe was being ravaged by war a 33 year old W. H. Auden penned his ‘New Year Letter’ to a friend. In 1990 Gil Bailie spent some time reflecting on this long poem full of erudite references to historical, literary, political and religious subjects.
“We are, I know not how, double in ourselves, so that what we believe we disbelieve and cannot rid ourselves of what we condemn.” – Montainge
Gil Bailie examines William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar through the lens of René Girard. Shakespeare’s play looks at the volatile transition from republican Rome to Imperial Rome. The unsuccessful attempt to sacralize the murder of Caesar by the conspirators leads to an escalating chaos. The conflict swirling around Brutus and Cassius with the conspirators on the one hand and Antony and Octavius on the other depicts aspects of the mimetic crisis violence provokes. Shakespeare created a masterful display of mimetic doubling and conflictual undifferentiation in Acts 4 & 5 showing Brutus and Cassius side by side with Antony and Octavius.
Gil Bailie examines William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar through the lens of René Girard. Shakespeare’s play looks at the volatile transition from republican Rome to Imperial Rome. In Act 3 the conspirators assassinate Caesar and attempt to sacralize their deed – to turn the murder into a sacrifice. Brutus asks his co-conspirators to dip their arms in Caesar’s blood and shout ‘peace, freedom, liberty’, using gore to give a greater gravity to their sacred violence. But this trick fails as Antony gives voice to the wounds of fallen Caesar. When sacred violence is compromised by the voice of its victim it no longer can constrain mimetic passions and all hell breaks loose… “let slip the dogs of war”.
Gil Bailie examines William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar through the lens of René Girard. Shakespeare’s play looks at the volatile transition from republican Rome to Imperial Rome. Act 2 begins with Brutus’ self-seduction into the conspiracy to kill Caesar. “Therefore it is meet that noble minds keep ever with their likes, for who so firm that cannot be seduced?”
Gil Bailie examines William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar through the lens of René Girard. Shakespeare’s play looks at the volatile transition from republican Rome to Imperial Rome. One of the chief protagonists of the drama is the ‘crowd’ or better the ‘mob’. This play was one of the primary sources from which Girard drew his mimetic theory.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
With the exception of the gospels, little in Western literature has the evocative power and transforming effect of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Gil Bailie, in these presentations, analyzes in detail Dante’s Inferno; his brilliant poetic tour of sin and its inexorable consequences.
Even though the poet Allen Tate called our era “the age of Eliot”, Eliot’s poetry has been as little assimilated by the 20th and early 21st century as was Dante’s by the 14th and 15th. This 8 part series explores what many believe to be Eliot’s poetic masterpiece.
Even though the poet Allen Tate called our era “the age of Eliot”, Eliot’s poetry has been as little assimilated by the 20th and early 21st century as was Dante’s by the 14th and 15th. This 8 part series explores what many believe to be Eliot’s poetic masterpiece.
Even though the poet Allen Tate called our era “the age of Eliot”, Eliot’s poetry has been as little assimilated by the 20th and early 21st century as was Dante’s by the 14th and 15th. This 8 part series explores what many believe to be Eliot’s poetic masterpiece.
Even though the poet Allen Tate called our era “the age of Eliot”, Eliot’s poetry has been as little assimilated by the 20th and early 21st century as was Dante’s by the 14th and 15th. This 8 part series explores what many believe to be Eliot’s poetic masterpiece.
Even though the poet Allen Tate called our era “the age of Eliot”, Eliot’s poetry has been as little assimilated by the 20th and early 21st century as was Dante’s by the 14th and 15th. This 8 part series explores what many believe to be Eliot’s poetic masterpiece.
Even though the poet Allen Tate called our era “the age of Eliot”, Eliot’s poetry has been as little assimilated by the 20th and early 21st century as was Dante’s by the 14th and 15th. This 8 part series explores what many believe to be Eliot’s poetic masterpiece.
Even though the poet Allen Tate called our era “the age of Eliot”, Eliot’s poetry has been as little assimilated by the 20th and early 21st century as was Dante’s by the 14th and 15th. This 8 part series explores what many believe to be Eliot’s poetic masterpiece..
Even though the poet Allen Tate called our era “the age of Eliot”, Eliot’s poetry has been as little assimilated by the 20th and early 21st century as was Dante’s by the 14th and 15th. This 8 part series explores what many believe to be Eliot’s poetic masterpiece..
This two part presentation was the second of a four part series entitled "Crucial Choice" where Gil Bailie compared the Isak Dineson short story, Babette's Feast, and Flannery O'Connor's The Displaced Person exploring the sacramental and sacrifical movements in the stories.
This two part presentation was the second of a four part series entitled "Crucial Choice" where Gil Bailie compared the Isak Dineson short story, Babette's Feast, and Flannery O'Connor's The Displaced Person exploring the sacramental and sacrifical movements in the stories.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
This series originally recorded in 1995 began with a presentation on Mark Twain’s posthumously published “The United States of Lyncherdom”. It was later thought that, although a valuable piece, it would be better presented on its own and not used as an introduction to the Gospel of Luke. However, you will hear an occasional reference to this at points in these reflections. A link to the public domain Twain essay is provided above.
The author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke, is traditionally known as a sophisticated non-Jew Hellenist and perhaps a physician. He was an early convert to the Christian faith, most likely through the preaching of St. Paul. But, as Gil Bailie points out in this presentation, Luke is above all a gifted teller of tales – or rather a re-teller of tales. The stories in Luke’s gospel are vivid and distinctive among the synoptic gospels.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
----more----
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
----more----
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
Think now History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. Think now She gives when our attention is distracted And what she gives, gives with such supple confusions That the giving famishes the craving
T S Eliot - Gerontion
----more----
It has been said that a “celebrity is someone who is famous for being well known”. It is a definition that underscores one of the most curious aspects of contemporary life. As uniquely modern as it is however, fascination for those whose chief distinction is that large numbers of people are fascinated by them goes all the way back to the dawn of human culture.
With each passing day, however, it is becoming clearer that the evermore vertiginous 'fame, fad, fanfare' phenomenon that has come to dominate popular culture is a symptom of a deepening spiritual, social and psychological crisis. In order to understand this crisis and to appreciate how uniquely Christian spirituality and Christian discipleship address its underlying malaise we will undertake an historical survey of the anthropological and psychological role that fame has played in human affairs.
Using this survey as a backdrop Gil Bailie rethinks our social and psychological presuppositions and ponders anew the anthropological and psychological implications of Christian conversion.
In Gil Bailie’s 1989 presentation on the Flannery O’Connor story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the theme of Western culture’s attenuated ability to provide a bulwark against humanity’s most destructive forces is explored. As the West moves ever closer in its embrace of Enlightenment rationalism as the foundation of its principles and further from the Christian realism regarding human nature a high price is paid. Many of the modern world’s politically correct psychological nostrums for human perversity are highlighted by O’Connor and shown to fail in the face of evil.
An expanded version of Gil Bailie’s presentation at the 2009 Colloquium on Violence and Religion conference at St. Mary’s University, London.
Unlike the generation that sacrificed so much to preserve our civilization, many of us have lately come to believe that we can discharge our present responsibilities simply by relaxing the religious, moral, social and cultural traditions that have defined our culture, relieving our children of the burden of having exemplary models to emulate and ennobling standards to which to aspire, and taking special care not to inconvenience newcomers to our societies with any serious need to familiarize themselves with these traditions. This minimalist approach to cultural responsibility is a striking example of what G. K. Chesterton called Christian virtue gone mad. Contrary to its purported intent, it has resulted in a generation or two of people who feel entitled to the blessings Western Civilization is still able to bestow but who no longer identify with that civilization in any really serious way, many of whom, in fact, have been inculcated with a contempt for it.
As Enlightenment modernity has been gradually but relentlessly dissolving the sacramental sensibilities that are so indispensable to authentic Christian existence, post-Enlightenment postmodernity has been forfeiting the anthropological sensibilities which are enshrined in the formal sacraments and without which civilization will inevitably collapse. Without sacramental sensibilities we lose a sense of grace, and without Anthropological sensibilities we lose a sense of nature – human nature. Whatever particular tasks Christians may be called to undertake, their perennial task is to recognize and bear witness to the relationship between nature and grace – and between this world and the next. The Eucharist is where the Christian both participates in this mystery and is nourished for the work of witnessing to it.
“The knowledge of what it means to be a person,” wrote Romano Guardini, “is inextricably bound up with the Faith of Christianity.” The word “person” entered into the vocabulary of Western culture only after Christian theologians, in speaking of the three Persons of the Trinity, gave the word persona a philosophical profundity never before associated with it. In achieving this milestone in theological anthropology, the theologians of the fourth and fifth centuries laid the groundwork for a revolution in human self-understanding which it may be the special privilege of 21st century Christianity to rediscover.
Without the bodily Resurrection of Christ, Christianity would not exist, and where this article of faith is diminished – by condescendingly referring, for instance, to Resurrection “experiences” – faith itself slowly dissolves or degenerates into some form of Gnosticism. The antidote to this and the key to rediscovering the gigantic meaning of the Resurrection is to recognize its Trinitarian backdrop, and for that in part 6 of this series Gil Bailie will turn to the Holy Saturday theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar.
Perhaps the single-most important theological question in Christianity is: what is the relationship between the death of Christ on the Cross and the forgiveness of sins and the redemption of the human race? René Girard’s contribution to this question is indispensable to the task which the Second Vatican Council implicitly assigned to us, namely, that of developing a theological anthropology. In part 5 of this series Gil Bailie will look to Girard’s work and suggest some of its surprising – and surprisingly orthodox – theological implications.
What we know by faith is real knowledge, even though this knowledge was not acquired scientifically or according to strictly secular rationality. What we know by faith is that we have been saved from sin and death by the Incarnation, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. In part 4 of this series Gil Bailie reflects on the Incarnation. The Milky Way is an Intergalactic Nazareth if ever there was one, as insignificant in cosmic terms as is our solar system within it. How laughable it is to think – murmur the skeptics – that God – if there is one – would be the least bit interested in the biochemical and moral anomalies occurring in some remote region of some remote galaxy.
What is history? When does history begin? We live in a time of extraordinary material improvements – however unequally enjoyed and fraught with unanticipated consequences. Nonetheless, someone as astute as Henri de Lubac can assert that we live in a time of “deliberate barbarism” precisely to the degree that we are guilty of the “deliberate refusal of history.” In part 3 of this series Gil Bailie will accept the challenge implicit in de Lubac’s critique and reflect on the nature and meaning of human history.
The bedrock of scriptural, Judeo-Christian anthropology is that humans are made in the image and likeness of God. While non-biblical religions and secularists regard such a statement as naïve and ludicrous, in part 2 of this series Gil Bailie discusses how, once this fundamental insight is given the theological specificity it receives in light of the Christian revelation – the Trinitarian nature of God – it becomes the single-most salient touchstone for understanding the origin and meaning of human existence.
Neither the New Testament nor the words of Christ can be cited as evidence for the idea that with the passing of time the moral predicament of fallen humanity would improve and the world’s resistance to Christ and the Church would diminish. The scriptural evidence, on the contrary is that history consists – in the words of Hans Urs von Balthasar – of the mutual intensification of the Yes and the No to Christ, a view made anthropologically cogent by René Girard’s extraordinary insights into history and culture. In part 1 of this series Gil Bailie situates the challenges facing contemporary Christianity within the context of this scriptural, Balthasarian and Girardian view of the human predicament.
A public presentation given in Brisbane, Australia in 2003 entitled "The Religious Challenges of the 21st Century".
A public presentation given in Brisbane, Australia in 2003 entitled "The Religious Challenges of the 21st Century".
A presentation at the 2011 Center for Ethics and Culture annual meeting at the University of Notre Dame. The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology offered three perspectives in this session made by Fr. Michael Sweeney, Ron Austin, and Gil Bailie. This is Gil Bailie's presentation.
This is an expanded version of remarks made in 2009 at an event honoring then San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer and Professor Emeritus René Girard of Stanford University. Gil Bailie proposes the importance of Girard's work for the Catholic Church in its mission in the 21st century.
Friedrich Nietzsche's aphoristic lament in his late work "The Antichrist" that it had been almost "two thousand years and no new god" glimpses an important anthropological effect of the Christian revelation. The word Nietzsche uses to characterize what he loathes most about the cultural effect of Christianity is the word pity. It isn’t pity; it is empathy for victims as victims that the Gospel awakens, and it is that empathy that has had a mounting effect on cultural life during the last “two thousand years”. In this presentation from 2002 Gil Bailie describes in broad overview of effects of the Gospel on cultures exposed to it using the interpretive lens of René Girard's mimetic theory.
This is a presentation Gil Bailie gave at the 2018 conference of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.
“The rural peals of the nineteenth century, which have become for us the sound of another time bear witness to a different way of being inscribed in time and space, and of experiencing time and space.”
Alain Corbin
“Religious believer and Bolshevik activist alike understood bells to be a linchpin in the cultural sensibilities that the regime wanted desperately to reconfigure.”
Richard Hernandez In his presentation Gil Bailie makes reference to the following two paintings and a film:
The Angelus by Milet
----more----
The Architectonic Angelus by Dali